Editing Shakers (section)

===Mother Ann Lee===
{{Main|Ann Lee}}
Ann Lee joined the Shakers by 1758, then became the leader of the small community.<ref>{{cite news |title=Shaker Eldress Dies |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CMsSAAAAIBAJ&pg=2220,507661&dq=shakers+shaking+quakers&hl=en |agency=Associated Press |date=October 4, 1990 |access-date=August 30, 2010 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>D'Ann Campbell, "Women's Life in Utopia: The Shaker Experiment in Sexual Equality Reappraised – 1810 to 1860." ''New England Quarterly'' Vol. 51, No. 1 (Mar. 1978), pp. 23–38. {{JSTOR|364589}}.</ref> "Mother Ann", as her followers later called her, claimed numerous revelations regarding the fall of [[Adam]] and [[Eve]] and its relationship to [[sexual intercourse]]. A powerful preacher, she called her followers to confess their sins, give up all their worldly goods, and take up the cross of celibacy and forsake marriage, as part of the renunciation of all "lustful gratifications".<ref name="Evans"/>{{rp|127–131}}

She said:

{{Blockquote|I saw in vision the Lord Jesus in his kingdom and glory. He revealed to me the depth of man's loss, what it was, and the way of redemption therefrom. Then I was able to bear an open testimony against the sin that is the root of all evil; and I felt the power of God flow into my soul like a fountain of living water. From that day I have been able to take up a full cross against all the doleful works of the flesh.<ref name="Evans"/>{{rp|23}}}}

Having supposedly received a revelation, on May 19, 1774, Ann Lee and eight of her followers sailed from [[Liverpool]] for colonial America. Ann and her husband Abraham Stanley, brother William Lee, niece Nancy Lee, [[James Whittaker (Shaker)|James Whittaker]], father and son John Hocknell and Richard Hocknell, James Shephard, and Mary Partington traveled to colonial America and landed in [[New York City]]. Abraham Stanley abandoned Ann Lee shortly thereafter and remarried. The remaining Shakers settled in [[Watervliet (town), New York|Watervliet, New York]], in 1776. Mother Ann's hope for the Shakers in America was represented in a vision: "I saw a large tree, every leaf of which shone with such brightness as made it appear like a burning torch, representing the Church of Christ, which will yet be established in this land." Unable to swear an Oath of Allegiance, as it was against their faith, the members were imprisoned for about six months. Since they were only imprisoned because of their faith, this raised sympathy of citizens and thus helped to spread their religious beliefs. Mother Ann, revealed as the "second coming" of Christ, traveled throughout the eastern states, preaching her gospel views.<ref name="Evans"/>{{rp|23–24, 138–144}}<ref>William J. Haskett. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=UbESJzwY-7UC&pg=PA25 Shakerism Unmasked, Or The History of the Shakers ...]''. author, E.H. Walkley, printer; 1828. p. 25–34.</ref>